Imperfect Me

Our college is located inside the Exhibition Grounds. This huge piece of land was donated by Sarojini Naidu to the government for educational institutions. On the grounds, there’s a school, a degree college, and a polytechnic college. There are no hostels for the school, but both colleges have their own hostels. I studied in one of them. By the time we were in our final year, hostel rules required us to stay on the topmost floor, which is the fourth floor. Our room was right in the center, with a view of the entire exhibition ground. My friend Manoja and I had even argued with the warden and HOD to get that room, because during exhibition season (just 45 days a year), we could see everything from our window. On Wednesday, January 30, 2019, it was a normal exhibition day. People were coming in, shopping, and leaving as usual. After dinner, we were sitting by our window, pleasantly watching the stalls and the crowd. Suddenly, we noticed a small fire break out in the middle of the exhib...

Day 1: Hyderabad → Arunachalam We started early in the morning from home by 9:30 AM We reached Kurnool and had breakfast. Before Kurnool, we had one stop at Beechupally (one of the famous Hanuman temples beside the Krishna river). After breakfast, we reached Kadapa by lunchtime. After lunch, we drove directly from Kadapa to Arunachalam. By 11:30 PM, we reached Arunachalam. If you travel in winter, you can reach a bit earlier, but since we traveled in summer, the temperature was higher than expected, so we had to stop in between for the vehicle to cool down. Routes: HYD - KUR: via NH44 KUR - KDP: via NH40 Kadapa to Arunachalam via Chittoor, Vellore Day 2: Arunachalam → Thanjavur After completing darshan at Arunachalam, we started for Thanjavur by 5PM we reached. It’s only 220 km — if we had started early, we would have reached earlier — but thankfully we reached just on time. As soon as we entered Thanjavur, we directly went to Maratha Palace because it closes around 5:40...

I woke up around 8 a.m. and started the day with chai and toast. While having my chai, my mom and I watched Big Boss. Once the episode ended, my Mom reminded me that I had to go visit my brother at his hostel. So I freshened up, packed a small bag, and left home by 10:30 a.m.. By 12:30 p.m., I reached his hostel. I stayed there with him till about 4:45 p.m. When it was time to leave, instead of taking an auto, I decided to walk 1.5 km to the nearest metro. On the way, I spotted a Max store and ended up buying three pairs of socks (because winter is coming😅). From there, I took the metro and then switched to a bus to get back home. By the time I sat beside the window in that half-empty bus, I was super sleepy, but still felt like writing about my day. Don’t know why, but it just felt nice to put it down.

For a short period of time, I was living alone at home. Around that time, I had a small health issue, and the doctor suggested I quit non-veg and make coconut water and buttermilk a regular part of my diet. There’s an aunty near my place who sells coconuts. I’ve known her since childhood, and she’s always been the kind of person who greets you with a smile. Since I was on my own, I started visiting her shop almost every other evening after work. It became a small routine. I’d have a coconut and spend some time chatting with her. Our conversations would drift from the village to politics to random everyday things. One day, she offered me a sweet, telling me it was her wedding anniversary. She’s almost my mother’s age, a hardworking woman who spends nearly 8–9 hours at her shop every day. Normally, she sold coconuts for ₹50, but for me, it was always ₹40. That small gesture always felt special. This routine went on for a while until I started having coconuts less frequently, and eventual...

This happened after the "Tank Bund" incident, by which time we had completely lost our trust in autos and auto drivers. It was during our sixth semester, the last semester of our graduation. We had to write multiple entrance exams to get into postgraduate programs, including one called ICET. I applied for it and got an exam center that was very far from our college. Only one of my friends got the same exam center as me, so we both planned to go together. The exam was set to start at 10 a.m., and we needed to be there by 9 a.m., which meant we had to leave by 6 or 6:30 a.m. because it was very far. We decided to go by bus, needing to change three buses and take one auto to reach the college. However, we were unsure about the bus numbers; at the time, we weren't new to the city but weren't experienced with all the routes. So, on the day of the exam, with a lot of confidence, my friend Ashu and I started from our hostel at 6 a.m. We were standing on the road discussing h...

"That was the first time I traveled alone by train. I bought my ticket and sat alone on the platform , waiting for the train. After a few minutes, an elderly woman in her 60s came and sat beside me, striking up a conversation. While I usually enjoy chatting with strangers and particularly with older people, but that day I wasn't in the mood for a Q&A session. Desperate to escape, I hurried onto the train as soon as it arrived, entering a different compartment. All the window seats were taken, with couples occupying each side. There were only two vacant seats left beside a woman, so I sat beside her. Soon, another man came and sat beside me who was around my age. Until 3rd stop, I had a pleasant conversation with the couple. Despite this, I kept an eye out for a single window seat at every stop. Finally, after 30 kilometers, two single-window seats became available. The man beside me kindly gestured to one of them, so I moved there. As the train started moving, the man who ...

On the day I joined the residential school at 8 years old, Tulasi and P. Anitha were the very first classmates I spoke to. They gave me a place to sit with them. Tulasi, Anitha, Divya Sree, Kiranmaiyee, Naveena, Nissi, Swapna, and some others were already close friends, and they just adopted me into their gang. As our school was residential, students were not allowed to go out at any cost. But for the first time, Tulasi, Divya Sree, and I broke the rule and jumped the compound wall, running to my home (only my home was very near to my school, while all my other friends' homes were nearly 100km away). At that time, my brother was an infant, just 3 months old. Nobody had seen my brother other than my family, but Tulasi and Divya Sree were the first people who saw my infant brother. Soon after, they divided the whole class into 3 sections. All of us were in the same Section except Tulasi; she was in a different Section. But we used to play games together every day during game time. As...

 Just writing this blog to read in the future about how the present used to be.....yeaa isn't it nice. I just gave up on how others think while they read my blog, and I started to think about how I am going to react to my writings if I read them in the future. so this is me in 2022 where hopelessly struggling to achieve something in life without putting effort. its January 26/01/2022, before talking about 2022 have to talk about 2020 because everyone celebrated the 2020 new year and stuck over there but the days are going on and suddenly the new year reached from 2020 to 2022 without notice the interesting and awful things in these times are watching movies and web series forcefully not because we liked them but because it was trending on the social media, cooking dishes which we don't know the name and origin, not because we want to taste it because everyone is cooking, scrolling Instagram and feeling jealous of others. sharing memes that were not even related. over thinking a...

This is one of the Indian things every Indian had come across a few minutes ago a person came to our home  He: Is your father came back from work? Me: No and what is the work with my father? He: I want to know the train time that your father goes every day. Me: 7:30am He: Ok, is it enough if we reach the station by 6 am. Me: it is more than enough if you reach by 7:15am He: ok, at least we'll be there by 6:45am the train station was literally a few meters away it will take a maximum of 5 minutes by walk and he was planning to reach the station 90 minutes before the train arrives. I don't know whether it is innocence or being punctual?  moreover, trains were never on time, they were always delayed. 😐

When I was 12, back in 2012, we got an invitation to a wedding in Bangalore. The wedding was on a Monday, but till Sunday afternoon, none of us were really interested in going. Then, around 5 p.m., my father got a call from his colleague, Afzal sir. He said, “If you want to go to Bangalore for the wedding, I’ll join you.” I overheard the conversation and immediately started begging my father to attend the wedding and take me along. After half an hour of non-stop pleading, he finally agreed. By 6:30 p.m., my father, Afzal sir, and I left home and caught the Yeshwanthpur Express at 7:30 p.m. And that’s when the real struggle began. We didn’t have reserved tickets; we only bought general compartment tickets. The compartment was packed, so crowded that there wasn’t even proper space to stand. After about 100 km, we managed to get one seat, which we gave to Afzal sir since he was older. There was no internet back then (2G era), no seat, and barely any space to breathe. I stood in those c...

"Two weeks ago, we bought a new car from the store. We performed a pooja and kept it in the shed. Then, the day before yesterday, on 16th February, we received an invitation to a marriage ceremony. Since it was our first journey in the new car, we were excited. The destination was a small village, quite distant from town. There were two routes to reach it: one from the town and the other, which we chose, involved crossing two villages, making it the shortest route. After passing through the two villages, we encountered road construction and had to find an alternate route. Initially, we considered going through town, but someone suggested a shortcut through the fields. As we proceeded along the shortcut, after approximately 2 km, the road became increasingly difficult to see. It was nearly 9 pm, and we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere. We decided to turn back anad go through the town. During the u-turn, our car's tire got stuck in a slightly deeper pit in the fields. We...

People always say things like, "I like this," "I like that," "This is my favorite color," "That is my dream," etc. But I don't have any. Honestly, I don't have a favorite color, a favorite thing to do, or anything like that. Most of the time, I feel the same while doing different things. Rarely, I feel very excited by doing or seeing something, but I always react to things that excite me. I don't even have a specific favorite person. I treat all my friends the same way. My close friend Pravalika once told me something about myself that is absolutely correct: I can't prioritize between people. If there is a friend beside me whom I've known for a few days and another friend I've known for years who is far away, I might choose the one near me over the one who is really close to me. I really don't know anything about myself. I feel like such a mess. I would like to know if I need to work a lot to get myself in order, or if...

I come from a very subtle family. I don't receive much appreciation for my accomplishments, nor do I face significant punishment for my failures. Mainly, my dad never made a big deal out of my successes or failures. When I achieved good grades in exams, he would simply say "good," without any grand celebration or acknowledgment. Likewise, if I failed, he would calmly reassure me, saying, "It's fine, you'll have another chance next time." On the other hand, my mom's reaction was different. If I did well, she would congratulate me, but if I failed, she wouldn't hesitate to discipline me. I was an average student until my first year of graduation. However, when I failed in my second year, it hit me hard. From that moment on, I vowed to never fail again. Now, having completed my post-graduation with the highest grades in my class, I shared the news with my dad. His response was the usual "good." However, a few days later, while I was at my ...

I have a fear of dogs and generally don’t like pets, as you might know if you were my close friend. This is the story of a stray dog that lives in and around my home, though it’s not our pet. There are five homes in our colony. A few days before the lockdown, our neighbors bought a small puppy. It stayed in their house for some time, but during the COVID-19 lockdown, the government imposed restrictions. During this period, they abandoned the puppy on the street, believing it was unsafe to keep it. However, no matter where they left it, the puppy kept returning to our colony. During the lockdown, the puppy roamed freely in our colony, and everyone started feeding it. It grew quickly and became familiar with every person in the area. It barks at every stranger who enters our colony, which annoys some people. One day, someone threw a stone at the dog, hitting its leg. Though it wasn’t seriously injured, it has been unable to walk properly since then. The dog often enters everyone’s com...

So it was a usual afternoon for others but not for us(obviously)  we met nearly after 21 months. in this time we evolved, we completed our post-graduation, we learn new skills, BUT but when we four were together we are nothing but a 16-year teen who is excited to take every single step. in that excitement we badly decided to go out for lunch again we don't have any place in our mind but we started walking towards kachiguda (we were in narayanguda from there kachiguda is nearly 500m and himayatnagar is also 500m)  after reaching there we didn't find any place, so we decided to go to mehfil which is in himyatnagar again the same mistake we took an auto from kachiguda to himayatnagar for 80 bucks 80 bucks seem less but distance is lesser yet we took an auto because one experience isn't enough to learn a lesson  that auto literally drove us for 10 steps and it broke down. we didn't bother much because things happen only to us we got down from the auto and starte...

    Till now I participated only in 3 Quizzes fortunately, I won in all of them :)> The first one is when I was in class seven, it was a group of six people, so I didn’t have a chance to put much effort but, I gave one or two inputs to my group and finally our group won first place. They gifted me a pen (cello butter flow) I kept that pen for so many days without using it because that is the first prize I ever won. Third participation was in my post-graduation, I easily won in the first place. Second participation was in my final year of graduation it was quite an interesting story. We were in class, a notice came that says there is an inter-college quiz competition was conducted by Xyz College. I was interested but there is also a physics 2 days workshop was there in our college just after the quiz day. Also, my friends and I were doing some project in which we just have to put some effort and volunteer that workshop. So I choose a physics workshop over a...

I don't know how to start or what to write because that's the state I was currently in. it was my bhargavi Akka's wedding everybody has cousins but only a few had a chance to get a best friend in them and that was bhargavi Akka for me.  I don't remember how we became close, but I remember how she treated me with her presence. even though I am not even blood-related, but she never makes me feel like that, actually bhargavi Akka is the kind of person, who never hurt a single person in her presence. and............today is her wedding, truth to be told I never ever attend any weddings completely, not only weddings any kind of functions. but today here I am for the first time I stepped out of my comfort zone and attend bhargavi Akka weeding almost 2 days before. and I had a very great time which I couldn't explain in words. when she got married the very first thing that came to my mind was she is not gonna be the same as before anymore. she is not gonna shares every sin...

After 15 minutes of argument, we decided to go to "love Hyderabad" sculpture because that is free to watch and that is located in midway to our hostel. we opened google and check the distance from jalavihar to love Hyderabad sculpture it was more than 7 kilometres, so we decided to take auto but this time we try to be more careful while discussing charges, finally, one auto came he said 100 rs. we don't want to spend 100 bucks here because if we gave 100 for him, we gonna left with only 100 that not at all sufficient to go back to the hostel so we and auto uncle came to conclusion, we asked him to drop in the halfway at Imax and we are gonna give him 40 bucks, he agreed. we sat in auto, in less than 5 minutes he dropped in front of Imax, we gave him 100 note and he gave us 50 note back then asked for more 10, he said "I don't have change ma" and he left. we looked at each other faces and moved on. we decided if Imax entry was free we are going other vice wal...

A  weird story one fine lazy Monday morning at 9:30am me and my roommates(pravalika,manoja and soumya) are not interested to go to college, so we decided to bunk college and go out. but that was the day before our Dussehra holidays, we don't have money (FYI: hostelers don't save the money) we borrowed 500 bucks from our senior and we step out so carefully from our hostel gate. And now the question is where to go? we are just discussing the places and then auto uncle (he looks old) arrived he thought we are new to Hyderabad. he watches us while arguing about places. First, we thought of Birla Mandir, then Tank Bund, then Salar Jung Museum. We just stopped for a while and sat in the auto because if we stay for a long time on our college street, someone may catch us. even in auto we are unable to find a place to go, so auto uncle suggests us to go to jala vihar and we said ok while going he was explaining all the buildings in Hyderabad like this is the secretariat and this i...